White Fur, Blue Eyes
by Dragonridr21
Summary: Everyone needs a friend, especially when lost in the Unknown Regions on a ship full of enemies. Thankfully, Ezra didn't notice a little white loth-cat jump into his ship when went to surrender to Thrawn...


"Get back here you little-!"

"Grab it!"

"LS231 it's headed your way!"

Pandemonium reigned in the lower hangar of the ISD _Chimaera_. Stormtroopers ran in all directions, crashing into each other and the various ships and crates scattered haphazardly around the hangar as they chased a tiny white ball of fluff that was barely visible among the crush of bodies in white armor. The creature moved so fast it was nothing but a blur, a flash of pointed ears, flat face and sharp claws as it leapt at helmets, dove between churning legs and jumped between running stormtroopers.

LS432 watched the chase in bemusement from his place lying prone on the floor near the entrance to the hangar. As if things weren't bad enough already, what with the Star Destroyer in the middle of hyperspace off to who-knew-where, kidnapped by the Jedi's pet space monsters. The Jedi himself was keeping the admiral and the other command personnel trapped on the bridge, if they were even still alive. LS432 doubted it. They had been ordered to get all the ships on board ready for takeoff in case they needed to fight or flee when they dropped out of hyperspace, but just as he had opened the troop transport section of the patrol transport the Jedi had arrived in, the little white menace shot out and knocked him over as it slashed at his helmet before jumping off. They still didn't even know what the kriffing thing even _was._ Everyone in the hangar was chasing it, but it moved too fast to determine a species.

LS432 rolled over and struggled to his feet next to the patrol transport as the white blur caused yet another collision between frantic stormtroopers, jumping from one shoulder to another before landing lightly and dashing straight for him. LS432 lunged as it drew close and his hands closed around a wriggling white tail. He yanked up with a cry of triumph, only to meet a pair of wide blue eyes staring back at him. The loth-cat hissed and wriggled in his grasp, but he held on tightly to the thick tail as it thrashed. He stood up, calling "I got it!" to his fellow soldiers as they too stood up and began to organize again. He could already see the captain headed his way.

"How did it get here?" the captain asked as he arrived.

"Don't know sir. It just jumped out of the transport when I opened it up. Maybe the Jedi brought it with him?"

"Why does a Jedi do anything? Doesn't seem to dangerous…" Those proved to be unlucky words. The loth-cat stopped struggling as they examined it, only to suddenly twist and latch on to LS432's gloved hand. _Hard._

"_Ahhh! Get it off, get it off!"_ He screamed, jumping and inadvertently letting go of the little menace as he danced around in pain, shaking his hand to try to get the monster to release him. In an instant the sharp teeth were gone and a tiny white creature was sprinting across the hangar, jumping on top of ships and boxes until it disappeared into an air vent that had lost its vent cover in the chaos. The other stormtroopers, still trying to recover from the first assault, utterly failed to stop the loth-cat before it disappeared into the vent system, lost in the giant Star Destroyer. LS432 suddenly found the glare of his captain's helmet pointed right at him in undeniable rage.

"Heh…oops?" The captain kept right on glaring. Great. If he ever saw that loth-cat again, he was going to kill it…

#

When Ezra awoke, he found a warm white ball of fuzz curled up by his side. Sitting up on the hard cot, he found himself in the all-too-familiar confines of an Imperial detention cell, reddish light coming from the walls melding with the harsh black lines of the support struts. The little white ball of fluff produced a head from the quivering mass as it looked up at him, blue eyes meeting blue eyes. Ezra's throat seized up as he recognized the loth-cat. It was the same one that he had first met in the burned ruins of his childhood home, the one that he had met more recently with the white loth-wolf, the one that helped he and Sabine hide and later recover the Tie Defender hyperdrive…

"Sabine…" The word escaped his tight throat without his meaning it to, and the loth-cat titled its head in what looked like confusion. It hit him all at once- he was in the middle of nowhere, captured and imprisoned with a fleet of very angry Imperials, far away from everyone and everything he had ever known, and he had no idea if or when he would return. Against his will he could feel tears start to drip down his face as he closed his eyes tight. He was exhausted from holding off hyperspace for so long, as well as directing the purrgil. His whole body ached, and the point on his shoulder where Thrawn's blaster bolt had hit him burned fiercely. He had never felt so worn down and alone.

He felt something small and wet touch his hand. His eyes shot open to find the loth-cat curled up by his side had begun licking his hand, blue eyes looking up at his with concern that would normally be impossible for a non-sentient being. Stretching out with his senses, he could feel its warm, comforting presence in the Force, strong and bright. He reached out slowly, gathering the unprotesting loth-cat into his arms. It purred harder, snuggling deeper into his body as he scratched and petted the soft white fur. The repeated motion helped him calm his mind.

The Force had led him here, shown him his options and this was the one he had chosen. He did not regret his choices; there was no other way to save his homeworld, to save his friends, to save his family. He had chosen to follow in Kanan's footsteps, to learn from his last lesson. There was no point in obsessing over the past- it was time to face the future. Hopefully someday he would see his family again. Until then he would trust the Force and treasure his memories of them.

He smiled down at the purring loth-cat in his arms, wiping away the tears that stained his cheeks. He didn't know how the loth-cat had gotten on the ship, but he was glad for the company. His old-yet-new friend would be a reminder of his home and a reason to keep going. Now it was time to move forward. He shifted the sleeping loth-cat to the side and resettled into position for meditation, reaching out to the vastness of the Force, but always keeping one part of his mind connected to the bright presence at his side.

#

Captain Gilad Pellaeon was confused. Here they were, a force of thirty Imperial Stormtroopers, himself, Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Jedi Ezra Bridger, who was cuffed and watched by no less than ten stormtroopers at a time, cutting their way through the dense alien underbrush on this accursed planet slowly but steadily. This wasn't what confused him though. What confused the captain was the white tooka walking at the Jedi's side, occasionally darting off into the underbrush for a few minutes at a time before returning to the Jedi. It looked like a loth-cat, a regional variant of the common tooka that was native to Lothal. How in the world had it gotten here? And why did it stick to Bridger like a fly to honey? Perhaps it was a Jedi thing. He still had the occasional nightmare of another swarm of purrgil showing up to destroy the fleet, instead of jumping them away to this Emperor-forsaken planet. Still, it seemed odd that the Jedi would bring it on a scouting mission or that Thrawn would allow it to accompany the Jedi.

Pellaeon had argued against bringing the Jedi, reasoning that he was an enemy of the Empire, the reason they had to go on this scouting mission in the first place and watching him would distract the Stormtroopers. Thrawn had overruled his objections, simply stating that the Jedi had his uses. Somehow, Pellaeon doubted that the Jedi's usefulness extended to the loth-cat. No matter how useful the Jedi was, in Pellaeon's mind the loth-cat was more trouble than they were both worth, distracting the troopers with its constant comings and goings. For some reason a few of them would flinch almost imperceptibly whenever came too close.

Their scouting party emerged from the jungle to find themselves in a narrow ravine, forcing the formation closer together as they wound along the path of an ancient riverbed, tall stone walls blocking out all but a thin strip of blue sky overhead. The sound of boots echoed eerily as they marched, interspersed with the occasional comment or order or curse as the loth-cat bounded ahead of them around a corner.

A few minutes later their steady progress was interrupted by two things: the Jedi suddenly stopping in his tracks and a yowl echoing off the walls of the ravine as the loth-cat sprinted around the corner. The whole procession stopped in confusion, the stormtrooper's blasters raised towards both the loth-cat and the Jedi alike. The loth-cat leapt at a group of three stormtroopers near the front of the party, clawing and hissing as it approached, all the fur on its back raised and eyes wide as it moved towards the troopers. It almost looked frantic, if a loth-cat were sentient enough to feel such emotions. The stormtroopers took a step back in confusion, attempting to fend the loth-cat off at it leapt at them.

"Scare it off and keep moving!" Pellaeon ordered, annoyance coloring his voice. This was exactly why he hadn't liked the idea of the Jedi or tooka coming along- now they were behind schedule and their actions were causing unnecessary confusion.

"Wait" called Thrawn in a calm voice, looking where the Jedi stood, apparently staring at nothing as he faced the right wall of the ravine.

"Look out!" came the shout, tearing its way past the Jedi's lips and only barely registering before the sound of a blaster bolt and the groan of rock tearing away from the side of the ravine, falling directly toward the three stormtroopers at the head of the scouting party and the little white menace.

The next few seconds were a blur of color. Black and white as stormtroopers broke and ran from the falling debris, brown and gray and the rocks fell, a flash of orange as the Jedi's hands flew up, a streak of blue and white as he spotted the loth-cat run past, until all colors were hidden by a cloud of rock-dust.

When the dust cleared, they found something impossible in its wake. The Jedi had his cuffed hands raised and eyes closed, facing the group of stormtroopers near the front of the procession, all of whom were on the ground and looking up in awe. Above them a group of large rocks floated in midair, caught in an invisible grip. Other rocks littered the ravine floor around them, remnants of the avalanche not caught in the Jedi's grip. The rest of the party stood watching in shock, eyes flicking between the Jedi and the floating rocks.

Bridger gave a slight push and the rocks moved to the side, falling around the stormtroopers but not on them. He lowered his hands and opened his eyes to find nearly all the stormtroopers pointing their blasters at him, unnerved by the unnatural display and looking for a target.

"Wait" called Pellaeon. He gave the boy a searching look. He was their enemy, he had proved it many times before in strikes against the Empire and bringing them here in the first place. Why had he saved the stormtroopers? He had known the rocks would fall before they did, he must have known that he was not in danger, but he had stopped the avalanche anyway. Well, Pellaeon might not understand, but he could appreciate the results. "He just saved those men. He's not the enemy. For now, we need to figure out who just caused that rockfall. That was definitely a blaster shot…"

"Indeed. Commander, send your men…" Thrawn began giving orders to the stormtroopers, sending groups out to find whoever had attacked them and organizing the party into a defensible position once again. For a moment, he caught a glimpse of a strange expression on Thrawn's normally inscrutable alien features. Could it be…pride?

Amidst the chaos, the white loth-cat reappeared, trotting between stormtroopers until it reached Bridger, leaping up onto his shoulders and wrapping itself around his neck with a contented purr. Bridger reached up and awkwardly scratched it behind the ears with his bound hands, telling it "Thanks for the warning" with a smile. What did that mean? Pellaeon remembered the frantic scratches that the cat had tried to land on the stormtroopers, how Bridger had frozen the second it came running around the bend. Could it have been trying to warn the troopers?

Maybe, just maybe, Bridger, and even the tooka, were worth the trouble…

#

Humans were odd, Jedi even more so. Thrawn watched from his position near the edge of their makeshift camp as Bridger played with his loth-cat near the power generators situated in the middle of their camp. Thrawn had not interacted much with the young Jedi before his arrival on the _Chimaera _during the battle for Lothal, having only seen him unconscious during their first meeting on Ryloth or from afar at the test flight for his TIE Defender Elite. His actions in other rebel missions showed patterns, as they always did, and Sabine Wren's artwork told him quite a bit about her friend, but watching him during these past few months and listening to his stories had proven more enlightening than even Wren's artwork.

Each member of Captain Syndulla's crew had their own patterns and motivations. Hera Syndulla's blood ran thick with the screams of the fallen, the sound of blaster shots and the horrors of growing up in wartime. She continued to fight because she had never known anything else, especially since her own family had been so scarred and torn apart by war. Kanan Jarrus had fought for his captain, for his crew, so that he would not lose what little love he had found after the fall of the Jedi Order. He had not known stability since he had left behind the name of Caleb Dume, and had found it only in Syndulla, his Padawan and their motley crew. It had ultimately led to his death.

Bridger was motivated by family, forming strong family ties. The signs were everywhere- his refusal to abandon his home planet, his attachment to Captain Syndulla's crew, his tendency to wear helmets decorated with signs and symbols connected to the _Ghost_, the Rebellion or Lothal. Here, far from his home planet, everyone he had ever known or loved and surrounded by enemies, it was interesting to see what he did when there were no family connections to rely on. When Jarrus had died, Thrawn had thought the boy would fall apart due to the new hole in the family dynamic, that he would lash out to try to mend the gaping wound in his carefully built family. Instead, he had destroyed the Jedi temple and dragged the once mighty Seventh Fleet to the middle of nowhere. Even after such a huge miscalculation, he had thought the boy would have fallen apart by now, unable to survive such a separation.

If the adoring blue eyes of the loth-cat were any indication, he had made a fundamental mistake when he made the assumption that Bridger had totally left his family behind. As the Jedi scratched the fluffy belly of the loth-cat, whispering to it and laughing, Thrawn could see his contentment in the set of his face and position where he sat in the damp earth. There was lingering tension in his shoulders, left over from being in unfamiliar territory and surrounded by former enemies, but otherwise the young Jedi was as relaxed as could be. It was apparent that he had attached himself to the stowaway loth-cat as his surrogate family, spending time with it instead of mourning his lost crew every moment of the day or closing himself off as he had during his years on the street. However, according to the pattern Thrawn has identified the addition of the loth-cat should not have made such a huge difference.

A group of Stormtroopers walked by, carrying tent materials as they set up the last few shelters on the edge of camp. One of the group caught a foot on a stone and fell, sending tent poles and rainproof canvas everywhere as he threw his arms out to catch himself. The end result was three stormtroopers flat on the ground, a mess of materials strewn around them. The loth-cat, previously happy to climb all over Bridger like a child's play structure, jumped off the Jedi and immediately began to play with the end of a rope that had fallen to the ground. Thrawn watched as Bridger followed at a slower pace, saying something to the loth-cat before beginning to gather up the fallen supplies and helping one of the troopers untangle themselves from the rope.

It was an interesting development, but not an unexpected one. Bridger made friends wherever he went. Much like Syndulla, his personality and faith in others tended to attract the downtrodden and inspire them to greater heights. Over the course of the past few months, he had warmed up to the troopers and ship crew that surrounded him. Like Ohnaka, the retired clones and many others, once the boy found something to relate to, he would believe in someone even when they did not believe in him. His faith inspired faith in others, as shown by the words of gratitude the Stormtroopers traded with the young Jedi as they accepted their fallen materials before moving on. They were not family, not yet. Perhaps they never would be. But the personal connection and new sense of camaraderie shared between Bridger and the crew of the _Chimaera_ meant that he could keep moving forward even in the face of despair. It was… admirable, if somewhat naive.

Bridger turned in his direction, a teasing smile on his face, the white loth-cat curled up in his arms. "What are you thinking about Thrawn? Don't say nothing, you're always thinking about something."

He considered what to say for a moment before responding. "I am considering the merits of family bonds and how they are formed. Have you any input to add to my conclusions?"

"That would require me knowing those conclusions, wouldn't it?" Bridget rebutted, stroking the loth-cat in his arms.

"Not necessarily. One does not need to know the thoughts of another to have an opinion on the matter. Enlighten me: What have you learned of the merits of family?" Thrawn asked, genuinely curious to see how the boy answered, and if it fit the pattern Thrawn had identified.

"The Jedi didn't believe in strong bonds" Bridger said, a thoughtful look crossing his face and his facial heat increasing to Thrawn's inhuman eyesight.

"I did not ask the opinion of the Jedi Order. I asked for your personal thoughts" Thrawn rebuked.

"I wasn't finished. The Jedi didn't believe in strong bonds. They thought it led to the dark side, they believed that it led to choosing the life of one over the lives of many. Family can be distracting. It can be messy, endlessly confusing, heartbreaking and terrifying, sometimes all at once. But in the end, it's worth it. To be with the people you love, who have been with you through thick and thin, who understand you better than you do yourself, who are always there to pick up the broken pieces and fit them back together. Bonds like those don't distract you from what's most important, they remind you of it constantly. If you treasure them as a thing, as a possession, that's when problems arise. But true family isn't about owning each other, its about loving and supporting each other so that each member can stand on their own, but knows they don't have to. There's nothing quite like it." Bridger locked eyes with Thrawn, dark blue meeting glowing red. "Something tells me that you'll have the opportunity to find out for yourself."

Ezra walked away into the night, the mewling of his loth-cat audible even after his body was no longer visible. Thrawn stood in silence for a little while, contemplating his response. It fit the pattern, as he had known it would. It was interesting that he acknowledged the faults of the Jedi, despite following their code. But the last sentence was the most interesting; what had Ezra meant? He found himself reflecting on his many years with Vanto at his side, during his rise in the Imperial Navy. Was that what Ezra meant?

Captain Pellaeon approached him, Commander Faro and several other officers by his side. "Grand Admiral, would you care to join us? We are about to have dinner." Thrawn changed gears, running through supply lists in his head as he responded to the query: "I would indeed Captain. I would like to begin reviewing…" But as he spoke of supply lists and patrol rosters with the Captain, he noticed Faro and Pellaeon trade a fond but exasperated glance before falling in to step behind him. Perhaps Ezra was right. Perhaps he did understand the idea of family better than he had anticipated.

#

Ezra was alone. Alone, trying desperately to stay afloat in a sea of screaming voices that threatened to drag him down so that he could share in their terror. It had been two weeks since that awful moment. In hyperspace after fighting off the latest attack, everyone on the _Chimaera_ had been exhausted but heartened, cheerfully discussing the battle and the necessary chores and repairs. They were in hyperspace- they were safe. Nothing could find them here, all was well. Thrawn, Ezra, Pellaeon, Faro and a few other officers were discussing the intel stolen off one of the destroyed ships, something about coordinates of a planet Thrawn recognized, when the Force exploded with terror, then unimaginable pain, before leaving behind the yawning abyss where billions of souls once glowed with power and light. Ezra didn't remember much of the rest of the day. He had apparently collapsed screaming before falling unconscious, terrifying the bridge crew and convincing Thrawn that something terrible was about to happen and making him put the entire ship on alert. They had taken him to the medbay but nothing the med-droids did woke him. Their one hint to what had happened was the word Ezra spoke when he finally awoke: _Alderaan._

_ A whole planet, gone in the blink of an eye. Screams of the dead, eternally terrified, the yawning void in the Force._ Ezra's head swam with memories of those few moments that felt like they lasted an eternity. Even two weeks later, he couldn't stop dwelling on it. Thrawn had informed Ezra and the commanders of the _Chimera_ of the existence of the Death Star. The longstanding mystery of the kyber crystals the Ghost crew had found when Ezra infiltrated the Imperial Academy and when they helped Saw infiltrate the civilian cargo ship, was finally resolved. Ezra wished that he had not known, could ignore the reality of the situation. But the terror and the void would not leave him be. All he could see ahead was darkness.

Ezra's greatest gift with the Force was empathy, forging connections between beings. He could feel the emotions of others like they were his own, could connect with animals easily and had formed a connection with Kanan since before they even saw each other for the first time. The death of Alderaan had shown him the downside of this gift more clearly than he could ever have imagined. His abilities had helped them so many times during missions, it had helped him save Lothal, and his choice to send them here to the Unknown Regions had protected more beings than he would probably ever know. But here, now, all he could see ahead was darkness.

What had his sacrifices, had Kanan's sacrifice meant, when the Empire had such power? Had the Death Star already visited other planets? Were they gone too, billions of beings gone in an instant, tens of thousands of years of culture and history reduced to space dust and chunks of rock? He hadn't felt another blast of terror and darkness. But what did that mean? If the Empire built a weapon, they used it. They wouldn't stop with just Alderaan. How long before he felt the death of his homeworld, the death of Hera, Sabine, Zeb, and everyone? It was over. The Empire had won. They had lost long ago, long before they even knew the war had begun, when they failed to stop the weapon's creation. He used to believe that there was always hope, that there was always a way to keep moving forward, that one day the Empire would be defeated. Now all he could see ahead was darkness.

He sat alone on the hilltop, looking out over the barren rock wasteland of a planet that they had crash-landed on after their defeat in the latest attack. Ezra couldn't bring himself to care. He mourned those lost, but it was a dull ache now. They had just died a little sooner than most. The Empire would find them eventually, as it grew and grew and grew until it encompassed the entire galaxy. It was just a waiting game. He didn't mind staying on the barren planet. It reflected the hopelessness in his heart.

A soft meow made him look over. The white loth-cat sat there, tail flicking back and forth in a steady rhythm. It felt odd to have to locate it by sound. Over the course of the last few months, he had always known where the loth-cat was, his connection to the fluff ball through the Force enough to make him aware of its location at all times. But he had been trying to avoid touching the Force ever since… Ezra looked away, staring out over the rocky, featureless plains below.

The meow was more insistent this time. He didn't look up. Paws batted at his face until he finally looked over, only to find a hissing loth-cat in his face. It grabbed on to one long strand of blue-black hair (He hadn't bothered to cut it in a while) and pulled.

"What do you want? If you go back to the ship someone will feed you" Ezra told it, extracting his hair from its mouth only to have it latch onto his finger instead. "OWWwwww! What?!" The loth-cat pulled on his trapped finger until he shifted position, coming out of his crosslegged position to kneel in front of it. Finally it let go and trotted a few feet away. It's head turned back towards him and it hissed, making it clear that if he didn't follow he would have a very angry loth-cat to deal with. With a sigh he pulled himself to his feet and followed, at first a slow, weary walk, then a faster pace, a jog then a flat out sprint as the loth-cat picked up speed. They raced over the rocky earth, causing Ezra to stumble several times as kilometer after kilometer passed under his weary feet. Despite its smaller legs the loth-cat never slowed down or showed signs of fatigue, racing over the landscape with the grace of a stream pouring over smooth stone. The hills gradually grew larger and larger around them, until the loth-cat finally chose to stop at the base of an outcropping so large that it could be classified as a true mountain.

The cat sat down and meowed as Ezra bent over and tried to catch his breath. Once he could breathe without pain again, he stood up and asked the cat, "Well you dragged me all the way out here, now what?" It just meowed at him. He shook his head. What else had he been expecting? It might be from Lothal, but the only animal there that could talk were the Loth-wolves, not the loth-cats. He looked around, but only saw more rock and shadows all round them, colored various boring shades of brown, gray and black. "What is it you want me to do?" he asked again. The loth-cat meowed again, insistent tone apparent but just more confusing to Ezra. "What?!" It just watched.

Finally he just sat, hoping that sometime soon it would deign to tell him why he was here in the middle of nowhere, kilometers from the ship and the crew. In retrospect, it was the wrong move. He had been trying to avoid touching the Force, but the moment his mind quieted, he reached instinctively to the energy that was as familiar to him as his own name. The darkness threatened to swallow him whole. He fought back, instinctively latching on to a large presence nearby- "Wait. What is that?" Ezra stood up, probing the new presence in the Force as he searched for it with his eyes. It was huge, neither dark nor light but powerful. How could he not see it? There was nothing around that could have such a presence that he could see-

"Oh you've got to be kidding me. Here?" He stared up at the huge mountain looming before him. It was many, many times larger than the Jedi Temple on Lothal, but it felt the same as the Temple did- a sense of immeasurable age and power rooted in the bones of the earth. It was unmistakable. He shot a dirty look at the loth-cat when it meowed again, the encouraging tone in its voice telling him exactly what it expected. This was a bad idea. He was already nearly pulled under by the darkness in the Force, and Temples like this one had a habit of showing him terrifying visions. But he knew it was his path. To be fair, if he tried to turn away he was pretty sure he'd get claws to the face, and no one was ever eager for that. So he set his shoulders and extended his hand towards the flat cliff wall that made up the foot of the mountain, reaching out with the Force.

The planet groaned.

Or at least that's what it felt like. The ground rumbled beneath his feet and everything around him shook so violently he could even feel the tremors in the Force. With a scream like the rending of metal the cliff face tore apart, revealing an enormous tunnel that led deeper into the mountain. Ezra let go of his hold on the mountain face and walked forward, following the waving tail of the white loth-cat into the darkness.

They strode in silence for a while, Ezra navigating by touch with one hand on the wall. The darkness was pressing in from all sides, the physical realm and the Force. It was a struggle to put one foot in front of the other, but every time he slowed he heart the whisper of soft feet and felt the flick of a fluffy tail hitting his leg, making sure that he kept moving.

He stopped walking when the ground leveled out beneath his feet and the wall disappeared from beneath his guiding hand. Stars twinkled all around him as though he stood in the depths of space, with only a small black circle where he was standing devoid of stars. He knew this place. The World Between Worlds, as Ahsoka had called it during his last adventure here. But there were no pathways, no portals or strange voices from beyond time. This was more like the time with Master Yoda, when he visited the Lothal temple to ask Yoda for guidance, when he had told them about Malachor.

A moment later and everything was black again, before he found himself in the cargo hold of the _Ghost_. Homesickness crawled up his throat as he looked at the familiar walls of the ship that had been his home for so long. The cargo hold door was open, letting in the soft golden light of a Lothalian afternoon. The wind blew the grass into an endless wave, an occasional stone or hunting loth-cat the only break in the sea of gold and green. He could hear the voices of Hera and Sabine above, laughing at something while Zeb spoke over them with Chopper beeping in the background. He leapt for the ladder, longing to see them so much that it was a physical ache in his chest, heart throbbing with overwhelming hope. Just as his hand touched the ladder, his surroundings dissolved in a flash of brightest light. Terror stabbed at heart and mind, not all of it his own as his family burned- _again._

He was on his knees, throat raw from screaming. _NO, not again, not again! I knew it, I knew it was coming… they're gone. Nothing we did will ever matter. How could it all have been for nothing?!_

He was standing on a rock jutting out over the plains. Karan stood beside him, watching the twin moons set. _The Jedi teach that life doesn't end after death, merely changes form in the Force_.

He was watching Kanan hold back the flames on the fuel pod.

He sat on the cargo hold ramp of the _Ghost_, Hera beside him with a wistful expression as they enjoyed the darkening sky. _We have hope. Hope that things will get better. And they will_. She looked at him with that hope in her eyes.

He held Hera in a tight embrace as they flew back towards their hideout in the southern hemisphere, feeling her sobbing into his shoulder, his body shuddering from the force of emotion.

Memories flashed around him continuing even when his eyes closed tightly shut, the Force pressing in on all sides. Why this torture? What was it supposed to accomplish? To teach him that all hope eventually died, that all sacrifices were in vain? Their happiness was always stripped away. The void grew larger and larger, encompassing all that he could see and feel until he was truly drowning. What was the point of it all when all hope and light was lost?

_Slow down. The Force is trying to tell you something. Listen to it._

One deep breath. Another. He'd retreated into himself, trying to hide from the darkness. Now he slowly began to open up, expanding his reach instead of contracting it. The flood of memories didn't stop, but rather changed. He saw himself standing on top of the _Ghost_ with Kanan, staring into the eyes of the purrgil with awe. He was flying the TIE fighter with Zeb, then charging into battle with Sabine at his side on Mandalore. He stood at Hera's side as she showed him the controls of the _Phantom_, he felt Chopper's manipulator settle gently on his knee and Kanan's arms around him as he mourned his parents. Slowly he got to his feet, watching his most treasured memories flash in and out of existence around him.

"So that's the secret" he whispered, watching the memories as tears began to slide down his face. The images changed once again, showing more recent memories. Playing with the loth-cat by the fire, fighting side by side with Stormtroopers in mismatched armor, sharing a joke with Captain Faro as they dug themselves out of yet another crash landing, strategizing with Thrawn and Captain Pellaeon on the bridge. A smile spread across his face and he closed his eyes, tears still leaking out.

Ever since the destruction of Alderaan, he had been focused on the darkness. He could feel nothing else, in the Force or in himself. He unconsciously limited himself to the dark side of the Force and focused on his worst memories. But that wasn't the way to deal with loss and despair. The Temple now showed him the way: focus on the best memories of the past, what he was doing in the present, and what he could do in the future. He had to believe in his friends and family, even if he couldn't be with them. He could not limit himself to the darkness, could not be so selfish as to wallow in despair. He hadn't wanted to leave his friends and family behind, but he made new friends now, and their defense of the Unknown Regions meant that his friends could continue fighting, that he could still protect them. That was his purpose now, his path forward out of the darkness.

He opened his eyes to find the stars twinkling around him again. Beneath his feet stretched a black path, leading on a ways to a portal similar to the others he had seen in the World Between Worlds, and he could hear faint music in the distance, emanating from the portal. He strode forward, walking through the portal without stopping. A feeling like cool water and static electricity poured over him as he stepped through.

When he emerged he found himself in a rocky cavern, created from the same stone as the mountain. A brilliant glow came from the top of a stalagmite in the center of the cave, where a grinning white loth-cat held a glowing blue crystal the size of his thumb in its teeth. He grinned and walked forward, giving the loth-cat a scratch behind the ears with his right hand and extending his left. It dropped the Kyber crystal into his hand and leaned into his hand.

Ezra saw a great metal sphere hanging in space, approaching Yavin 4. A swarm of X-wings and Y-wings approached, harried by TIE fighters and turbolaser fire from the battle station itself, picking them off one by one as they moved over the surface of the giant monstrosity. A few fighters dove into a specific run on the station, shooting at something with proton torpedoes but never quite managing to hit it, if the multiple ships that entered the run were to make any sense. Finally it was down to one ship, heading at high speeds for the end of the run pursued by TIE Advanced fighters. Without warning, a Correllian YT-1300 swopped out of nowhere and took out one of the pursuing ships. The X-wing shot at some kind of port and the torpedoes flew in before all the ships moved away. Moments later, the battle station exploded in a fountain of light and fire, sending a wave of power flowing through the Force itself. In a curious way it reminded Ezra of the explosions created by an overloaded Kyber crystal, which he would realize later was exactly what had happened. His heart leapt as he felt the explosion, the death of the Death Star, but also as he felt a point of light in the Force, centered on the pilot of the X-Wing. Perhaps he hadn't left the Rebellion without a Jedi after all.

The vision ended and he found himself looking at the crystal in his hand once again. His fingers closed around it and he picked up the loth-cat with his other hand, settling it into the crook of his arm. It was time to get moving. The Rebellion had hope, and now, so did he. With the crystal in his hand, his new companions by his side and a purpose burning bright in his heart, it was time to get moving.

#

"What do we do?!"

"How should I know, I'm not a med-droid!"

"Would they even know what to do anyway? They work with sentients, not tookas."

"You look me in the eyes and tell me this thing's not sentient, after all the stunts it's pulled."

Three stormtroopers gathered around a small form lying the the grass beneath their bent heads, ignoring the smoking remains of two speeders behind them and the multitude of baster marks scarring the land around them. Each of the three were burned in places, their broken, dented and scarce armor not enough to protect their fragile bodies. In the distance, the sounds of a battle rang out: blaster fire, explosions, a mysterious chanting in a guttural language and an odd humming sound that was faint enough to be nearly imperceptible unless one listened for it. With every passing moment the sounds of battle faded as the combatants moved over the grassy hills, one side pushing their enemy back.

Blood slowly pulsed from a long gash on the side of a tiny white form. LS432, real name Tortin Nartano, recently given the nickname Snatch after grabbing the last ration bar, felt helpless as he watched the little white menace gasp for breath on the ground. A stray blaster shot that nicked the explosive on their enemy's belt, shrapnel flying, flying at the armored stormtroopers. A white form that hissed and leapt at them, causing them all to stumble back in shock, making sure the shrapnel missed where their patchy and damaged armor left their bodies unprotected. A metal shard tearing through fur and hide. What could they do? Snatch didn't know anything about tooka biology or care. Neither did his companions. Maybe Commander Bridger or the Grand Admiral would know, but they were fighting, they couldn't bother them with this. It was up to them.

That thought broke Snatch from his reverie. "Hey, Chance, you still got those extra clothes in your pack? And the extra water rations?"

Chance gave him a confused look. "Well, yeah, but it probably got torn to pieces or blown up."

"Well go look! We might be able to clean and bandage it if we can find those supplies. I'll look around to see if there's anything else that can help. Hadda" he added, looking at their third companion, "put pressure on the cut, I think that's supposed to help with most species."

"Got it!" They chimed in unison. Snatch began to rummage through the remains of their speeders and equipment, looking for anything useful. They'd taken the speeders to catch up to some scouts trying to warn the enemy of their ambush, but it turned out that their extra supplies had been stored on the backs of the speeders. At least it left plenty that could be useful lying around. In short order Snatch found a water bottle with some water still in it, a stormtrooper's thread kit (They tended to tear their clothing often, especially since most of it was very old and worn at this point) containing a variety of needles and some frayed thread, and a couple of matches scattered about. His best find came last: he recognized Hygiene's pack, half burned but still recognizable, lying next to the remains of the engine of one of the speeders. He dug out the sanitary wipes Hygiene took everywhere with him and hurried back to the loth-cat.

"Perfect!" Hadda cried when he saw Snatch hurrying back with the wipes. Chance was beside him, tearing an old shirt into strips to use as bandages.

"For once Hygiene's weird habits came in handy. I've got some water here too." Carefully Hadda lifted his blood-soaked hands from the red-stained white body. Snatch began cleaning the wound, using one of the strips Chance made earlier and the little water left in the bottle he'd found. Once the water ran out be began using the hygienic wipes. The blue eyes remained closed as Snatch gently cleaned the wound as best he could, but a tiny paned mewl struck at the stormtroopers ears whenever Snatch probed a little too much. Finally the wound was as clean as they could get it.

"Do you think we should try to stitch it shut? That's what they used to do before bacta" Hadda suggested, eyeing the little box of thread and needles. Chance pried open the kit and began to thread the needle before Snatch stopped him, putting an unarmored hand over Chance's gauntlets.

"No, we'd probably do more harm than good. We could probably use the stuff to secure the cloth and made sure it's tight enough for a bandage though." Chance nodded and got to work, securing the bandage around the gash and sewing it shut using the needle and thread. A little bit of blood stained the cloth, but to their immense relief it stopped soon after they secured the bandage.

Chance had found that one of the speeders was still intact enough to run during his earlier search, so with the utmost care they loaded the loth-cat on the back where their supplies normally went, with Hadda holding on to it to make sure it didn't go flying. They all mounted the bike and took off, heading towards where their ship was located some kilometers away.

When they arrived back at their shuttle they found the med-droids and the rest of their squad scattered about, either helping the injured or waiting to be seen by the med-droids. There were too many injured troopers to bother the med-droids, so the three troopers went and sat by the side of the troop transport they'd arrived on, settling the loth-cat in the grass beside them and making sure that it was as comfortable as possible. It had fallen asleep, or maybe unconscious, on their drive back to the shuttle. Snatch wanted nothing more than to go grab a med-droid, but they were all much too busy.

It was odd to think that not so long ago, he'd sworn that he would kill the little thing if he ever saw it again. The loth-cat's Jedi had gotten them into this mess and the loth-cat itself had caused such a ruckus all around the ship for months when it first arrived, but the loth-cat had also saved more stormtrooper patrols than anyone cared to count with its uncanny knowledge of what was about to happen. After the third time it had saved his life, he couldn't kid himself into believing that he was still holding a grudge. Every time it shifted in its sleep or let out a tiny mewl of pain, his heart twisted uncomfortably and he unconsciously shifted a little closer to where it lay in the soft grass. Once he started bumping shoulders with Chance and fighting for leg space with Hadda, he knew he wasn't the only one indulging a newfound protective streak.

The sound of boots hitting the earth nearby made his head rise. He hadn't realized how close to dozing off he'd been. When he looked up he found the Jedi walking towards them, scraped up and bruised, his clothes torn in many places and some grass sticking out of his wild blue-black hair, wearing a knowing smile as he approached their little group. Most of the others had already boarded the shuttle and the med-droids were in the process of seeing to the last of the wounded and packing up the supplies. They must have all been dozing, and apparently no one had thought to wake them up.

Snatch scrambled to his feet hurriedly, nudging the sleepy Chance and Hadda to do the same. Commander Bridger may have been the newest member of the command of the _Chimaera_, and a Jedi and former enemy to boot, but he had gotten to know the stormtroopers during their time in the Unknown Regions. He might have been in his early twenties and years younger than many of the troopers and commanders but they all respected him greatly, and not just because he had saved all of their lives many more times than they cared to think about.

"How is he doing?" Commander Bridger asked once he was closed enough to be heard. His slight smile grew as he saw the three stormtroopers scramble to their feet at his approach but faded just as quickly when he looked down towards their feet.

"He? Oh, the loth-cat! We're not sure sir. We tried out best to patch him up but we don't know much about medicine and we didn't have much to work with" Snatch replied. They had all given up trying to understand how their Jedi commander just seemed to know things, or how he could do the impossible with a wave of his hand.

Commander Bridger knelt down by the loth-cat's side, stroking it gently. With a soft meow it awoke, turning slightly to lick the Jedi's hand before settling back down again. The commander knelt and gently gathered it into his arms before standing and turning to face the watching troopers. "I'm suppressing his pain for now but he'll probably need to see a med-droid before too long. You all did a good job keeping him stable. Thank you." Snatch turned red, Chance looked at the ground and muttered something inaudible, while Hadda just nodded stoically as if he wasn't blushing brighter than a rose on the inside.

They walked back to the shuttle and boarded together, listening to the chatting of other troopers about the battle as the shuttle took off, heading for where the _Chimaera_ and the remnants of the Seventh Fleet hung in low planetary orbit. It took a while for Snatch to work up the courage, but after about twenty minutes he turned to the Commander and asked, "Does the loth-cat have a name sir? I've never heard you use it. Until you mentioned it we didn't even know it was male." He trailed off, watching the suddenly pensive look on the commander's face.

"A name? No, not really. At least, not a verbal one." Commander Bridger replied, in a tone that told the troopers his thoughts were far away.

"What do you mean sir?"

"I don't communicate with him the same way you all would. I can feel his emotions, his thoughts. I can communicate my own thoughts and feelings to him. I know his presence in the Force. He has a name, but it's not one that I can really verbalize, since it's mostly feelings. I never gave him a nickname since I know how to communicate with him that way." Suddenly the commander looked down at the sleeping loth-cat in his arms and raised an eyebrow. The loth-cat raised its head slightly and meowed softly before settling back down in his arms, though it did not return to slumber this time.

"Turns out someone's feeling grateful" Bridger told it in a teasing voice before raising his head again. "He says that you three can choose a nickname for him. Since you saved his life and all." The teasing tone remained in the commander's voice but there was a true note of gratitude in his voice and eyes as he studied the three stormtroopers.

Snatch was struck dumb. He and his friends traded glances as each tried desperately to come up with a suitable name. "Snowball?" Chance suggested.

"Too obvious" Hadda chided. "What about Stardust?" For some reason that caused the commander to shudder and quickly shake his head, so Hadda dropped it fast. Before long the rest of the transport's troopers were getting in the spirit of things, suggesting more and more outlandish names as time went on and they drew closed to their Star Destroyer.

"How about Phantom?" Snatch offered hesitantly. Bridger turned towards him so he hurriedly explained "Because he's always appearing and disappearing at just the right moment, and he's only there as long as he wants to be."

Bridger smiled slowly and the loth-cat perked its ears up, twitching them and meowing in clear approval of the name. "He likes it" the Jedi told him, "I think we've got ourselves a winner."

"Great! You get to catch the little Phantom next time he goes running off" Chance joked, triggering a tide of laughter from the other troopers. Snatch just hung his head and sighed. At this rate, that's all he'd ever be remembered for.

#

The planet burned. Not in the showy, destructive, all-at-once fireball like the Death Stars dished out to their unfortunate victims, but rather a slow death, a vindictive death. The burned husks of plant life, broken in fragments on the ground and burned stags rising tall above Sabine, told a story of a beautiful plant destroyed by fire. The remains of mountains could be seen in the distance, dark stone scarred and scattered by turbolasers and other unknown weapons. Steam clouds hung in the air above the blackened dirt. Bodies were strewn everywhere, most of them burned beyond recognition or torn apart so thoroughly it was impossible to tell their species of origin. Nothing remained here for any sane being. To Sabine, it felt like the Force itself would shy away from such a place. Then again, she didn't know anywhere near as much about the Force as her companion, whose white cloak and staff were already covered with ash stains even in the little time they had spent here. The paint on her own armor was obscured by the ash, turning all the beautiful colors to a dull gray and black that didn't suit her at all. Fire still burned in many places, consuming what little material it could find. In most cases it burned on the bodies of the combatants, producing a truly horrible smell.

In a way, the scene reminded Sabine of the desolate plains of Mandalore, or what the barren planet must have looked like during the endless wars of her people when the ground was first blasted beyond repair. She and Ahsoka picked their way around bodies and fires, and the occasional giant hole where a turbo laser had tried to create a new cave system in the planet's substrate. This was not the first battlefield they had encountered during their search, but it was by far the most recent. As they followed the trail of destruction, relying on scant clues and Ahsoka's Force-enhanced intuition to guide them, the battlefields had become more and more recent. At first they found planets where the scars were so old they were starting to disappear completely, then burned husks, and now these burning plains with fresh bodies scattered all around them.

"Sabine! Look!" called Ahsoka from up ahead. She was bent over a body that hadn't been too badly burned, the circular tip of her staff resting atop the chest of the body. Sabine ran over, watching the paint-spattered boots become hidden under a layer of gray and black from the ash she kicked up as she hurried to Ahsoka's side. Ashoka moved to the side to let her examine the body, and what she found brought her up short. Ashoka was bent over the body of a blue-skinned humanoid. The body was male, built slightly stronger than a human's normally was and was also slightly taller than the average human male. His coloring wouldn't normally be odd, as there were many species that had such a skin tone. However, in this case there was enough left of the body to see its blue-black hair and its eyes were open, revealing glowing red eyes that refused to stop shining even in death.

"Is this what I think it is?" Ashoka asked in a steady tone. "I never met Thrawn in person."

"Yes, this is definitely a member of his race, whatever he is." Sabine stared down at the body. This could mean nothing. They were in the Unknown Regions, and one of the only confirmed things about Thrawn's origins was that he came from the Unknown Regions. It could just be a fluke that one of his people fought in this terrible battle. But after so long tracking down rumors, following dubious leads and finding one burned battleground after another, Sabine couldn't help but hope that this discovery meant that they were on the right track.

She was about to ask Ahsoka's opinion on their new find when an unexpected but familiar sound distracted her. She looked up, searching for whatever had pricked at her hearing. Looking across the scorched earth, she saw nothing, but a few seconds later the sound came again. A sound that did not belong in this place of death and destruction, but rather in the whispering grasses and stately stone spires of Lothal: the meow of a loth-cat. Ahsoka stood up beside Sabine, having clearly head it as well. The meow came again, causing both of their heads to snap to the right.

On a small hill approximately fifty meters away from where the two searchers stood sat a white loth-cat. Its fur was pristine white, untouched by the ash and destruction of the battlefield as it sat on a rock watching them, blue eyes unwavering as its long bushy tail moved back and forth in a slow, steady motion.

"I know that cat" Sabine stated, thinking back to long-ago memories and a mural painted on the wall of Lothal's New Republic Senate Building.

"It has an unusually strong connection to the Force" Ahsoka told her, eyes never leaving the cat. "How in the world did it get here?"

"Ezra knew this loth-cat. He said it guided him to Ryder when he first met him and later it helped us hide the hyperdrive we stole from the TIE Defender" Sabine replied, the tiny note of hope begun by finding the body that looked like Thrawn's species strengthened by an ever-growing chorus.

Ashoka looked at her, the same note of hope evident in her eyes as her contrails twitched in excitement. "Do you think this means-" But before she could finish her sentence, the loth-cat stood up from where it sat on the bounder, stretching in a way that made it look like it was bowing to them before hopping neatly off the rock and running off, setting a brisk pace as it ran further into the former battlefield.

"After it!" Ahsoka snapped. She didn't have to tell Sabine; she was already moving, dodging obstacles as she raced after the white furball, its bushy white tail making for a fine flag to follow as they raced through the battlefield. The loth-cat was fast- before long even the well-trained Ahsoka and Sabine were panting as they ran, the ash in the air coating the inside of Ahsoka's mouth and causing her to caught violently every so often. Sabine's Mandalorian helmet protected her from the ash but the heavy armor made it a chore to keep up with the lithe Ahsoka.

The bodies appeared fresher this way, the fires smaller and more recent. Everything was just as burned, but Sabine could tell that the fighting had started where they landed their shuttle before slowly moving in the direction they were running. If she was right, the loth-cat was leading them directly to where any survivors of the battle would be, be they victors or the defeated. The thought put new life into her limbs and she sped up, Ahsoka falling into step beside her.

The loth-cat led them over rolling hills until it finally stopped at the top of the tallest one yet, setting down in the ash and dust to wait for them. As Sabine and Ahsoka crested the rise, they spotted figures milling about below. Seven Lambda-class shuttles were parked on the ground, with a few more ships of unknown make accompanying them. Several hundred troops milled about. Most appeared to be stormtroopers, as shown by the patchy remnants of their traditional white armor. Most didn't have a full set, but it looked like they had scrounged up whatever was available. There were notable repair marks on most of the gear. A few of the blue-skinned warriors were with them, dressed in different and armor that had far fewer battle marks. There were warriors of other species as well, most of which Sabine didn't recognize. After so much time in the Imperial Academy learning about all the different kinds of aliens and many of their languages, it was an odd sight to see so many she didn't know. But then again, they were in the Unknown Regions, home of the strange and mysterious. Most of the warriors were helping the wounded, of which there were many, or helping load the ships with supplies and injured warriors.

None of these things were what caught Sabine's eye though. They were peripheral details she noticed and would only notice in memory later on. No, her eyes were locked on two figures studying a hologram in the middle of the pack of soldiers. One was taller than the other, dressed in mismatched, ill-fitting stormtrooper armor and a scarred white uniform that looked like it had been through hell. His red eyes glowed against the blue of his face as he studied what looked like a tactical readout. The other was shorter, but taller than she remembered. He too wore mismatched bits of stormtrooper armor and his long hair was tied back in a ponytail that had more than a few strands escaping, the blue-black locks falling in front of his eyes contrasting greatly with his dusky copper skin tone.

The loth-cat was racing down the slope with Sabine just behind it. She didn't wait to see if Ahsoka was with her, she just ran. It didn't take long for the soldiers to notice her. They formed up in an instant, blaster raised in her direction as they formed a defensive line. They were well trained, and apparently used to the loth-cat using them as an involuntary climbing wall if their non-reaction to the loth-cat jumping up onto the shoulder of one trooper, then jumping onto a blue-skinned alien warrior before leaping onto a strange bug-like being nearly six feet tall that Sabine didn't recognize, was any indication. It made its way deeper into the mob of soldiers before Sabine lost track of it. She was forced to stop by the line of soldiers, and raised her hands high in the air in a universal gesture of surrender, peripherally noticing Ahsoka doing the same behind her. Before anyone could exchange any words in any language, a voice echoed from behind the line of soldiers.

"Sabine? Ahsoka?" The soldiers parted in a wave, allowing the two figures to approach. Ezra Bridger appeared out of the crowd, the white loth-cat on his shoulder meowing in what Sabine swore was a self-satisfied tone. His eyes were wide with shock, those familiar blue orbs she hadn't seen in over five years peering out from a face so familiar yet so foreign. Everything around her blurred together. Her feet moved of their own volition and she bolted forward, yanking him into the strongest hug she could muster. His body was stiff against hers for a moment before he melted into her embrace, throwing his own arms around her. She'd imagined this moment so many times. She was pretty sure he had too. So he should know what was coming next.

She broke out of the embrace and punched him as hard as she could. She was merciful- she didn't aim for the face. She drove her fist into his solar plexus and had the pleasure of watching him bend over and cough violently. The soldiers shifted and more than a few reached for their blasters before Thrawn put up a hand to stop them, glowing eyes fixed on Sabine. She only had eyes for Ezra.

"You idiot! What was that all about, leaving like that?! And those instructions couldn't have been at least a _little_ more detailed?!" She could _feel _the smiles directed at the two of them from all around, the soldiers and Ahsoka both entertained by the spectacle of a reunion unfolding in front of them.

"Sabine, I" he wheezed, putting one hand up as if to block her but smiling so wide she thought that it must be unconscious. His loth-cat, now sitting on the ground to escape Sabine's wrath, meowed at him. Normally understanding animals was Ezra's thing, but Sabine could understand this one as plain as day.

"Listen to the loth-cat Ezra, and just shut up." She pulled him into another hug, watching the ash fall around them. There were so many questions to ask and so many stories to tell, but for now this moment was all they needed.


End file.
